A saga over who is allowed to sell ice-cream at a national park visitor hotspot appears to have been resolved after it was agreed a refreshments van should be moved "by about eight feet".

Members of the North York Moors National Park Authority's planning committee expressed dismay over the chain of events that had led to a long-established ice-cream business being refused permission to site itself at the Hole of Horcum after the authority granted itself consent to locate an ice-cream van there.

An application by Whitby-based entrepreneurs Larraine Burgess and Tony Cervone to renew permission for their van beside the Saltergate Car Park had seen it refused in December as members said it would create "an unacceptable concentration of commercial activity" overlooking the 120-metre deep and 1.2km-wide chasm, north-east of Pickering.

Ahead of a second ice-cream van being given consent at the site, the planning meeting was told while the highways authority had not voiced concerns the ice-cream van could be a road hazard, the national park body had also rejected the scheme on those grounds.

Agent for the ice-cream van business, Bradley Stovell, told the meeting the safety concern had been addressed by moving the van along the grass verge of the car park.

He said: "The van would have no effect on the visibility of the access and there would be no interference with other cars. There is a space for customers to queue off the car park, so there would be no conflict between vehicles and customers."

Members were told planning consent for an ice-cream business had existed beside the car park since 1965, but it had often lapsed.

Officers added that the ice-cream selling site which the authority gave itself permission for last year had been put out for tender, but no one had bid for the pitch.

The park authority's chairman, Jim Bailey said: "My worry is that we have got here through a string of temporary permissions for previous vans, which have lapsed.

"Now that's been moved about eight feet forward we suddenly think that's ok. The journey we've come is not one I'm particularly proud of, but I don't think just plonking another one on the edge of the car park is the solution."